City Corp. board members listened and viewed presentations on digital aerial photography and prestressed concrete water tanks during their regular meeting Tuesday at Huckleberry Reservoir.

Image America of St. Louis has been in the business of aerial photography since 1998, explained Tom Maher. The company was the low bidder of those submitted to the water utility's board during its March meeting.

Maher said the company shoots aerial photography with six-inch resolution digital imagery that would provide seamless coverage of Pope County. The photography would be processed, tiled and buffered per the county's requirements.

Image America would photograph the county 10,000 feet above ground, using its DDP-2 aerial camera system in which there are 10 cameras throughout the world, Maher said. The company would provide a single-file digital overview of the county that would offer a unique combination of features, benefits, accuracy and reliability, he stated.

After photographing the county, the company would deliver the image format (32,000-by-4,000 kilobytes) on external drives for easy accessibility, Maher said.

City Corp. General Manager Craig Noble said after the meeting the cost of the aerial photography would be about $60,000. Other entities within Pope County have expressed interest in sharing the cost, board members were told in their March meeting.

Water tanks

Dave Ornduff of Boston-based Natgun Corp., with a regional headquarters in Olathe, Kan., told the board the company is a specialty contractor dedicated to designing prestressed concrete water tanks.

Founded in 1929, the company built its first tank in 1935 and has constructed more than 1,000 water tanks in 30 states and currently builds about 200 tanks a year.

Ornduff explained the process of building the free-span domes that comprise the tanks, which range in size up to 2.5 million gallons and have a potential life span of 70-80 years. The tanks need no painting and require no out-of-service time for maintenance, he pointed out.

City Corp. employees are preparing to take the city's 14th Street and Houston water tank off line so it can be sandblasted and repainted by Leher Painting Inc., Operations Manager Larry Collins told the utility board. Pressure relief valves have been installed on five fire hydrants across town, and the tank was valved off so Water Treatment Plant operators could get a feel of operating the system without the tank.

The tank is scheduled to be taken out of service Monday, Collins said. The project should be completed in 60 days.

According to Ornduff, a steel diaphragm of multiple layers of prestressing is installed on the company's water tanks at 140,000 pounds per square inch (psi). Then, 800 cubic yards of concrete is poured with the 140,000 psi remaining intact to firm up the tank.

He pointed out the project site is kept open so those interested can view the construction. Ornduff added funding of a tank's construction is re-invested locally by using local contractors, engineers, etc.

Other business

Noble told board members a local representative for the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) recently conducted an inspection and, with the exception of three or four paperwork issues, received a good report.

City Corp. staff are currently monitoring 20 local developments. Paperwork has been completed for the equalization basin project and sent to Garver and Garver Engineers by the contractor. A required 404 permit from the U.S. Corps of Engineers was received, Ron Pierce of Garver and Garver said.

Design for a chemical feed building system continues, which would allow the utility to convert from chlorine gas to sodium hypochlorite as its primary disinfectant. Garver expects to submit plans to the Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) within 30 days.

The ADH is reviewing construction plans and specifications for a tank on Weir Road that would replace the Bayou Ridge Tank north of the Water Treatment Plant. Garver is expecting health department approval for the project soon, Collins said.

Twenty-four manholes are scheduled to be repaired this month, the second round of such repairs this year. Collins said a camera was run 1,408 feet and found four breaks in the sewer main, which are on schedule for repairs. Twelve clean out caps were missed and replaced at a local trailer park. At last count, City Corp. has 3,120 manholes in its system.

No major problems were reported at the sewer pump stations, and water plant operations are going well, Collins said. Nine days of rain brought 5.4 inches to the Russellville area, better than the 4.6 inches of rain received in April 2005.

Collins also reported for the first time in nearly three years, Huckleberry Reservoir is full without the help of Bayou Ridge pumps. Elevation of the reservoir was 460.3 feet Tuesday.